


Omniscient Soldier

by spacetarget



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Gen, Loosely Follows Canon, Manga and anime spoilers, but i'll have to change stuff for the scenario to continue, follows reader through the plot of snk, this is a mess overall but i hope you like it LMAO, this is a relaxing fic to write so a bit slow to start
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:53:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23984095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacetarget/pseuds/spacetarget
Summary: The air has never been this crisp and the sun has never shone so bright. As you open your eyes, the world of Attack on Titan unfolds its wonders before your eyes and you realize you are now a part of this universe.When you realize you have knowledge that no one else holds, how powerful you are, and that every action you take could have horrible consequences, it dawns on you that you are all alone.How will you survive in a universe that decided to put everyone's lives, hopes and dreams on your shoulders?Will you be able to take on the burden of this knowledge to save your comrades and help create a better future?
Comments: 18
Kudos: 35





	1. Causes and Consequences

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is going to be following the manga, and contains spoilers up to what is currently released. It will follow the canon story, but there will be some twists, as the reader actually takes action to change some events hehe. I haven't written anything since 2016 so I hope it's alright, now I'll let you read! Also you're also age 13 at the beginning, even if most of what they do isn't shit you do at 13 but anyways! Have fun reading ! (also feel free to comment any thoughts you have, comments are my fuel to keep posting so go child, go)

Only the chirping of the birds and the rustling leaves in the neighboring trees could be heard as the sunny afternoon was warming up the atmosphere.  
You breathed.  
An ounce of fresh air was enough to make you feel revitalized.  
You slowly opened your eyes, waiting for them to get used to the harsh midday light.  
A blink. Another one.  
Someone was standing in front of you, you turned you eyes to check on your surroundings.  
A big yard was welcoming you as you slowly put together everything that was happening.  
It felt real, not like a dream, you could physically feel like you belonged there. Where were you?  
A quick glance at the boy in front of you helped you make sense of what was happening. The two swords clashing together finely embroidered on the brown jacket immediately caught your attention.

Attack on Titan? It was definitely a dream them, a mix of your liking for the series and other events. But something felt off. You couldn't put your finger on it, but, it felt right to you. You were _who knows where_ doing _who knows what_ for _who knows what reason_. Being...who knows who... You looked at your chest, and noticed you were saluting the same way the soldiers did in the series, just like the people around you. Your hands felt the same as before, they were yours, no doubts. Looking past the soldier in front of you, you noticed another row of people. Ah! You were most likely reenacting the ceremony of the 104th training corps !  
You decided not to move, and hold your position. You were in the military afterall.  
Suddenly, a voice echoed in the yard, and as surprised as you were, you recognized it immediately. You quickly turned your head to the place the voice came from.

Keith Shadis in flesh and bones, was standing a good 20 meters away from you. He was interrogating the one and only Armin Arlert. You thought about all this boy would have to endure. You winced and looked around you, looking for familiar faces. They would all have to endure so much. You turned your head to your direct right and your jaw dropped. Sasha Braus was whipping out _THE_ potato like nothing.  
“ Don't do that! ” You tried to whisper.

“ But I'm hungry! “

A cold breeze swept your hair in front of your face.

“ I’m Armin Arlert, from Shiganshina, sir! ” a high pitched voice echoed.

You kept looking at Sasha through your locks. She was 50 centimeters from you, at most. You controlled your urge to touch her to try and see if she was real. She noticed you staring at her, and grew uncomfortable.

“ Can you not do that please, it's a bit weird to be honest ! ” she whispered, mouth full.

Could you stop her from doing her laps after the ceremony? You extended your hand, breaking the salute, to snatch the potato from the brown haired girl. You stopped midway. If Sasha wasn't recognized as the potato girl right now, Histo-, Christa, wouldn't take care of her and Ymir wouldn't talk to her in the evening. What would it even do? You couldn't predict the future.

Now that you realized you could act, it felt, off, you knew everything they would go through, what they were thinking, what they came here for... You glanced at Reiner a few rows in front of you. What kind of power did this knowledge hold? If you changed even a single thing, the world could take a path that not even you knows. Was stopping Sasha from running so important that you could change the future ? You decided it was not. You'll still have to figure out how to organize your actions in a world that's supposed to work without you. You're an outsider here, you were never supposed to exist in this universe in the first place.

Could you even meddle with fate, if it existed? Stopping certain events from happening would cause catastrophes in this world. But maybe... You held your salute once again and looked up to some kind of vulture circling above the yard. Maybe you could change the future for the better, maybe all of this could turn out better than expected. Maybe you could save some of them, maybe they were not all destined to end up dead. Maybe you could even save all of them! You could even-

  
“ You! Why are you here?! “ Shadis was in front of you.

You froze, you didnt even noticed he'd gone to Sasha before.

  
“ Don't make me repeat myself, soldier! “

  
_Maybe I could even..._

  
“ (L/N) (F/N), sir ! And I...I... I want to change the world! “ You shouted.

______________

  
  


The sun was setting, and you were still running. Beads of sweat were dripping from your face onto the ground as you struggled to breathe. Sasha was doing way better than you. She was a hunter afterall, and you were... A former couch potato... _Hah, potato..._

Your stomach made an inhuman sound and that's when you realized most of the recruits would soon head to the barracks for dinner. As you continued your laps, you realized a group of girls was watching you run. You heard them chat as Mina joined them.

“ They're still going at it ? Man, they've been running for three hours now... “

“ What's gotten into them, though... Glad to know who we're gonna gonna train with... “

She laughed, visibly more out of empathy than mockery.

“ A hungry girl, and... a know-it-all coward.... “ she added.

You winced at her comment. She was right, you weren't exactly the wisest out there, but you could at least have held up to your pride and looked him in the eyes instead of fleeing his gaze. It was done, anyways.

“ Don't say that ! “ Mina replicated. “ They've been running for the whole afternoon ! At least they know what they did, she would've stopped already if she was oblivious to her mistake ! “

_Oh, how I love you Mina._

To be completely honest, you didn't really know why you kept going. Probably pride, again, how would you look if you stopped while Sasha was still going. You didn't want to look like a 'know-it-all coward' to everyone else. But knowing that Sasha wouldn't stop until nighttime was making you more and more discouraged with every laps you ran. _Really, the girl was right... what's gotten into me..._

  
  


**A few hours earlier**

  
  


“ (L/N) (F/N), sir ! And I...I... I want to change the world! “ You shouted.

The instructor grew quiet and his eyes expanded. He squinted.

“ You think you're special ? Have fun changing the world while being turned into titan shit ! “

He moved along the row of soldiers and you whispered.

“ ...Titans don't defecate... “

A few seconds passed in what seemed like hours. You could feel the fear of all the recruits around you, they slowly turned their head to see who was the fool who dared argue with the instructor. You slowly smiled, proud for holding up to him.

“ What was that soldier ? “ Shadis stopped and turned his head to look at you.

Your smile disappeared in a second and you wished you never said that. You didn't dare move, your eyes wide opened and locked to something in the horizon.

_He won't punch me, right ? He'd never do that... Right ??_

He slowly walked towards you again, almost threatening.

“ What. Was. That. “

You could swear you pissed your pants. Watching him torturing the recruits was fun in the anime, but now that you _were_ an actual recruit you couldn't say the same...

“ Titans don't defecate, Sir !“

You didn't dare look at him. Your heart was about to burst out of your ribcage.

“ Oh you're a smart ass huh, we'll see if you like running as much as you like being insolent ! “

He skipped the whole row and continued interrogating other people. You didn't move. Eyes still locked right in front of you.

“ This promotion is a bunch of brats... “ you heard him mumble as he was going away.

_I'm still alive._

…

  
  


It was getting dark. You felt the wind rise as you continued doing laps around the yard. _I'll never cross him again !_ Was probably what the punishment was supposed to make you think, and you weren't about to argue with it. To hell with the jogging ! You were left alone with Sasha, as everyone went inside to eat almost an hour ago. You didn't exchange a word since the ceremony this morning. She looked as exhausted as you now, or at least, how you supposed you look. Sweat was dripping down your face and you felt gross. Breathing was harder than ever. You looked at the barracks. Christa shouldn't take too long now.

You decided a bit earlier that when she would show up with the food, you would politely decline, letting her alone with Ymir and a passed out Sasha, as to not disturb anything more than you've already done.

Right as you finished another lap, you heard the door of the wooden building open, and the blonde girl came out, holding two loafs of bread and a jug of water. You stopped running and stumbled on your feet, falling ungraciously to the ground. _Ouch !_ When you looked up, Sasha was already attacking Christa, and bit into both loafs. You got yourself up and slowly walked towards the building, ignoring Christa. History would have to follow.

“ Ah ! Wait ! I brought water for you too ! “ she called.

You looked at her from the small stairs and smiled.

“ Thank you, but she'll probably need it more than me when she'll wake up, I'll grab myself something if I can. “ You waved, and let her look at Sasha, dumbfounded, she hadn't realized the girl had fallen asleep onto her lap. You closed the door.

Hoping you could find some remnants of food, you headed to the mess hall. You rubbed your sleeve against your forehead to dry the sweat that was still dripping from your hair, down to your cheeks. A shower would be appreciated right now ! You turned to another corridor and pushed the wooden door that led to the hall. The dim light from the candles was envelopping the room in a warm light, giving it an eerie but comfortable feeling. You were alone here, and you could hear the wood crack as you walked through the tables to find some bread. Before you got to the end, you found a lone loaf, waiting to be eaten. You sat down and quickly began munching on the piece of dried bread. It never tasted this good before. Grabbing a jug of water, you chugged down all of its content. _Pure delight._ Your body would really take a toll from today's punishment, and you could already feel all your muscles aching. You slowly put your head on the table. _I hope Ymir could join Christa..._ You sighed heavily, you didn't have the energy to go back to the dorm, and everything was a blur already. Soon, the flicker of the candle lights was a blurry orange wave and you fell asleep, alone on the wooden table...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep coming back to change or add details LMAO, who thought building a protagonist would be this hard huh


	2. Story and History

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait!  
> Some more worldbuilding and character presentation to get things oiled up hehe  
> Its 3AM when i originally post this, so I'm probably gonna wake up tomorrow and wince at all the typos I probably missed but anyways!  
> Have fun reading!

It wasn't a cold blue nor a warm yellow. Alone in your head, no intrusive thoughts came as a nuisance, and no pleasant memory made its way to satisfy you. You were floating, lost in the distasteful grey of your unconsciousness. A buzz came, breaking the uneven harmony holding you up gently.

Lights flickering before your eyes, some shadows here and there.

Reality slowly pulled you out of your slumber.

A tap on your arm.

Your body never felt so heavy.

''Excuse me ?''

''Hmm...''

You slowly held your head up. No different from every other day, your eyes opened, taking some time to adjust to what you assumed to be the morning light.

''Did you fall asleep after your punishment?''

After the sea of grey came the blond sun. What was Armin doing here ?

A quick look around you and it clicked.

''Ahh, yes, I was probably too exhausted yesterday night...'' You yawned and stretched your arms. They hadn't felt this stiff since... you couldn't even remember ! Your legs started to pulse and you felt like this was more like waking down, than waking up.

You winced.

''You should probably head to the dorm if you do want to change... People are going to come here for breakfast soon.'' The boy pointed at the clock behind him, a friendly expression plastered across his face.

Oh true. A shower was needed.

Thanking Armin, you got up and got to the dormitories as quickly as you could. Shadis really didn't want you to forget yesterday's jogging easily, huh. You found your way pretty quickly, and snatched a second uniform from the closet that seemed to be yours- judging by the only empty bed next to it-. Matters got complicated when searching for a 'shower room' though. _Do these folks even wash themselves ?_ After a bit of opening all the doors that didn't seem to be offices, you found two areas that resembled a big public shower room, the kind you would find in swimming pools. Well, shower room, but make it 1900's. Calling it a shower would be... pretty bold : A few wooden basins were full of water, and a hole in the wooden planks seemed to be the shower drain. Well, this would have to do. Looking up, you found a small bar of soap and forced yourself not to think about _where_ or _by whom_ that had been used before...

Time to scrub !

You locked the door and started undressing. Looking at yourself, a laugh escaped you. _I'm an actual twelve years old ! Good thing I kept my actual, 'mental age'..._ Thinking of it, they were all pretty mature for their age... Anime logic, you guessed. You threw your head into the cold water and started rubbing your hair.

_Ahhh today's the first ODM exercise right..._

You hoped you would actually get how it worked. Being good in combat or theory was nice, but if you weren't good at the ODM gear, you were straight up fucked during a battle. _Just gotta survive._

Keith was right, you wouldn't be able to do horse shit if you were dead. The next three years would be calm anyways, you just needed to focus on becoming a strong soldier. That is, if you weren't teleported back to your actual world. You sighed. When would you be able to see your friends or family. It's not like you could text them and tell them where you are... Was your world continuing on without you ? Were you gone missing ? Or was it paused, waiting for you to come back ?

Thinking about it, you weren't twelve or thirteen in reality anyways, so that was pretty odd already.

You took water in your hands and rinsed your face with it. The cold water on your skin was a well-needed slap : To say that the benches of the mess-hall were not comfortable would be an understatement. You stretched your back and you sighed once more as you got on your knees. _Ouch._

Your mind started to wander.

You were in the world of Attack on Titan ! Before, just the thought of this fantasy would make you happy. But _right now_ , you felt incredibly lonely.

You remembered yesterday, when you saw Sasha for the first time. She was so real and beautiful. There was also when Christa wanted to help you... And Armin a few moments ago. It was incredible how happy they made you. Seeing them in person was a total different feeling though.

You quietly snorted. _What am I being gloomy for ? I'm a soldier here, and I have to get to training !_ You held your head up. _I'm just emo._ _That's not like me to feel like that._ The lack of sleep was probably the cause to your sad mood. You rubbed your eyes and continued washing yourself with the small bar of soap. When you were as clean as you could be, you changed into your second uniform and started working on your sweat covered clothes. You would have to be quick. Most people would probably be at breakfast already, you didn't want to be late and miss the beginning of the training too.

_I'm never running these laps again !_

You took your soaked clothes and ran outside to hang them up.

'' Hey now kiddo ! Where are you going with this !'' As you got out of the main building, the fresh air outside was so enjoyable that you didn't notice you'd ran past a soldier.

A... confused soldier...When he realized what you were holding.

''I am going to... uhhh...''

Where would you hang your laundry anyways ? It was your first day here, you didn't know shit.

''Excuse me sir ! Do you know where I can hang up my clothes ?''

His eyes opened wide.

''Isn't it early to take initiatives ? You can hang them behind the kitchen if needs be. Your uniforms are picked up every week for laundry anyways.''

''Every week !?'' You shouted.

''Is there a problem ?''

''Absolutely not, sir ! I'll be going now !''

You turned and ran to the kitchen building. _Every week ?!_ A uniform a week would stink !

You heard the soldier talk to himself while going back to what he was doing.

''If even the trainees are high maintenance now...''

He was right, the hygiene of this world was... pretty basic... Who knew that instead of titans your first fear would've been dirt. You understood why Levi was considered a maniac now...

You hung up your clothes behind the kitchen and ran back to the mess hall.

When you arrived, luckily, everyone was still there. You grabbed a tray and sat down with Sasha, Connie, Marco and Jean. It was your first actual meal since you became a trainee and it was... pretty _stale,_ to be honest. You would have complained were you not starving since yesterday. In about 2 minutes, the content of your tray was already nowhere to be seen.

You looked at Sasha and saw that she was also done with her breakfast... and was now glaring at Connie's food.

''You wish, potato girl ! I earned this food !'' The boy declared.

''Earned ? What have you done since yesterday ? » Jean stepped in.

Connie groaned and took a bite off his food, mumbling alone.

''Sho, who won ?'' he added, mouth-full

You looked up and realized he was talking to you.

''Won ?''

''Yeah ! Yeshterday afternoon ! Who did the mosht laps ?!''

Taken aback by his question, you didn't know what to answer.

''I don't actually know.''

''What ? It was only you two running ! Didn't you run longer than potato girl over there ? Or has she done more laps than you ?'' Jean jumped into the conversation.

''My name is Sasha !''

''I don't know really, I didn't even think of counting the laps. I should have though... Probably sure I smashed her count !''

Your head whipped around to see a pouting Sasha. You chuckled.

''Though, to be completely honest, I think she did ran more than me.'' You pointed at your neighbor.

''It was a punishment anyways, not a competition ! If anything, it was a pretty good training !'' Marco smiled and your heart sunk to your stomach. He didn't seem to have anything to add, you felt awkward, but managed a small smile.

Connie suddenly turned to Marco.

'' I don't think I know you guys's names !''

''I'm Sasha Braus ! I just told you...'' She rested her head in her hand and looked at you expectantly.

''Ah ! I am (Y/n)(L/n), what about you, Mar-''

Shit. First mistake.

''My name is Marco Bodt, did you, know it ?''

''No I- uh-''

QUICK. Find an exit ! First conversation and I already slip. Man ! I'm good for nothing !

''I was gonna ask you if it was Marcel !''

''Marcel ?''

''Yeah ! You... You do look like a Marcel, actually!''

_Absolutely not !_

''Oh ! Well... I'm not a Marcel ! But I hope Marco is good enough !'' He ended with a smile.

 _That is more than enough._ Your eyes grew big and you grinned like an idiot.

Jean looked at you weird, before turning to Connie.

''And i am-

''I remember you, _actually_.'' Connie leaned on the table in a similar manner to Jean. The boy cleared his throat, threw his other hand in the air and trying to morph with Bourgeoisie itself, declared.

''I am the grand Jin Kirshan ! I want to go to the interior to wipe my ass with gold plated toilet paper ! ''

You weren't expecting this and you burst out laughing in the hall.

''Ouch ! Gold plated ? That must hurt.'' Sasha concluded.

''Say, say, how was it ?''

''I do believe, your Majesty, that this was a show-stopping performance !'' You said, in the most High-class-sounding voice you could manage.

''Hey ! Who are you trying to imitate now !''

''Didn't you say you want to go to the interior ?'' The bald head did want a confirmation.

''I want to ! At least I'm not a hypocrite !''

''Jean, they were only joking...'' Marco in all his glory, calmed the situation with just a sentence. He moved his head to his left, inciting us to look around. We realized a lot of people already left to prepare for the ODM test. You took your plates back and caught up with the others that were already going to the gear training area. This test would determine your abilities in the air. You needed to be a good soldier, and in order to be just that, you had to be good here.

'' You look nervous.''

You snapped out of your thoughts and noticed Marco was walking alongside you, the others not far away in the front.

''Ah, yeah, I am.''

''It's the first time we're all doing this so it's normal... but, we can't predict what's gonna happen anyways... ''

''That's exactly why I'm nervous ! I can't predict how it's gonna go !''

He laughed at your honesty.

''I mean, that's understandable. I'm pretty tense myself... But, we don't really have a choice, so we might as well try and see how it goes !''

''...Guess you're right !" You sighed, looking straight up ahead.

  
You chuckled lightly after that.

  
"Hey... Let's make a bet..."

  
"What a sudden change of tone, (Y/n)!"

  
"I'm not gonna be gloomy all day! Anyways! Who do you think will get the best score?" You looked at him expectantly, wondering if he would get it right.

  
"Hmm... It's hard to tell really... I don't really know Jean, Sasha and Connie that well... what would you say?"

  
Disappointing but understandable answer.

  
"I would say Jean, Connie, Sasha, and you!"

  
"What makes you say that?" He looked intrigued.

  
"Oh, nothing, just an intuition!"

–

When you get to the training grounds, most of the trainees are already gathered around Shadis. You make yourself part of the crowd and recognize a few faces here and there. When you spot a noticeable blond head a few meters away from you, you excuse yourself and leap towards him.

When Armin notices you, he smiles a bit and whispers a quiet 'hi'.

''Thank you for waking me up this morning, I probably would've been late if I woke up later.'' you thanked him in the most quiet way to could manage.

He kept his head faced towards Shadis, so as to not be caught. You do the same.

''It's no problem, really ! You can thank my roommate for that, actually... he woke me up early by snoring...'' The boy admitted. You assumed he was talking about Reiner and chuckled.

Shadis spent the next fifteen minutes talking about theory and balance, and a second instructor made a demonstration. The crowd became agitated, excited to take on this new challenge : some were showing off, other were saying that they could never do it... It was a mess, to be completely honest.

''Shut _UP_.''

The loud mob was instantly silenced and we all turned to see Shadis seemingly containing the rest of the rage he hadn't let out the second before. The leftover anger seemed to leak from his eyes...

Everyone felt scared and was quickly put in three lines to finally begin the exercise.

Connie and Sasha went at it before you, they made it look so easy ! You felt a ball of nervousness creep up in your stomach... You couldn't really predict how it would go... but it was still the first step of your soldier training! It's like your first exam of the year, in a way...

When you emerged from your thoughts, your comrade in front of you just finished his test and it was finally time for you to go. As you were getting attached to the wires, you realized you would be going at the same time as Jean. Talk about dumb luck.

You shifted your attention towards your feet. Slowly, your body was being lifted. You held your left leg a bit behind you and instinctively turned your bust to the left to keep balance. Your arms were tensed and the world felt stopped in time. _I'm doing it !_ You didn't dare move, your position felt great to you, you didn't want to break it.

Slowly, you were being put to the ground. And when you lifted your head, the biggest grin was on your face. Jean was being detached off the hooks when he caught your gaze, and gave you a thumbs up before smiling and going at the back of the waiting lines.

_I actually did it !! And I'm as good as Jean ! He's the best of the class, this is amazing !_

''Ah ! Excuse me ! I couldn't see your turn since I went before you, how did it go ?''

Armin approached you when he saw that you were coming back from the front of the lines, where the exercise was taking place.

''It went well !! I think I did great ! No need to be so polite, by the way.'' You laughed lightly.

''Ahh, I'm glad then ! I heard that Jean also aced it.''

''What about you ?''

''I think it was good ? I struggled a lot in the beginning...''

''Don't worry too much ! I'm sure it was alright, and you still have three years to get used to it''

He seemed to feel better about his performance, and he chuckled a bit. Your victory on this exercise made you more confident in your abilities too, and the boy seemed to notice that.

''And you still have three years to get better ! Uh... I realized I don't know your name...''

''(Y/n) !''

''Oh ! I remember now ! Sorry.''

''Ah, nahh, don't worry ! I haven't talked with a lot of people yet since I've missed yesterday's dinner.''

''You only missed Jean and Eren getting in an argument... But I hope you'll be one of us tonight, at least !''

''Of course ! I promised myself I would never run these laps again !'' You said, a bit disheartened that you missed everyone introducing themselves to each other.

''Wait, I mentioned him but, do you know Eren ?''

''I don't actually, is he a friend of yours ?'' _oh, sweet, sweet lies._

''Oh, yes ! He's a childhood-''

Suddenly, everyone that stayed at the front seemed to be moving in unison to get closer to the training site. Grunts and laughs were heard among the trainees.

_''Is he actually that bad ?''_

_''He was boasting last night but look at him now !''_

You and Armin exchanged a look and you made your way through the training lines who had now become an agitated mob. The first sight that greeted you, after getting to where you wanted, was an upside down Eren, woobling his arms in the air, desperately searching for something to grab onto.

You turned your head and the blond boy next to you stood there in silence, looking straight at the brunette, with a worried look on his face. _What if he didn't pass ?_ Was what he was probably thinking. _Oooh boy, if you knew._ You laughed a little at Eren's stance when he was brought down.

''Pull your shit together, Jaeger !''

The boy indeed pulled himself together and tried again, imitating the position of his comrades, but still crashing down head first in the dirt. Ouch. It hurt seeing him. Shadis seemed to be noting down his results on a training sheet. Seemed like a good moment to interfere with the timeline.

''Excuse me sir...''

''What is it ? Do you wanna comment on his fantastic skills ?''

''No that's not it, but, I was thinking... Maybe the gear is malfunctionning !''

Shadis looked at you. His eyes reflecting something that you wouldn't have understood if you didn 't know what he did in the first place.

''Are you implying that the instructors here don't know how to prepare the material ?''

A few of your comrades were already being scared for your life.

''No Sir, absolutely not. But I think it could be good to have it checked, to make sure that-''

''You sure like to be disrespectful ! That Jaeger boy doesn't know how to keep his ass straight. Don't try to excuse him. End of discussion. End of training too, everyone get back to the barracks !!''

You left there dumbfounded as everyone was slowly turning back to head to the main site. Mikasa rushed to Eren, followed by Armin, who had just left your side after being pushed around by a few people. They helped the boy get up, and soon it was just the instructor, the three friends and you left.

A moment passed.

Eren brushed the dust away from him and he looked at you. You inhaled deeply.

You were finally meeting the protagonist.

Just like with everyone else, it was such an eerie feeling everytime you looked at them in the eyes. Your favourite characters made flesh.

You continued looking at him.

Shadis decided it was a good moment to leave.

''Stop trying to act like you're special, (L/n).''

You felt a surge of blood rush to your head as you turned around to face the instructor's back.

''And what if I am !?'' You shouted.

You heard him chuckle lightly.

''Don't get caught up in a false hope, soldier, find out where you belong.''

You felt the wind on your cheek. Not a warm yellow, nor a cold blue, but just a soft white, slowly caressing you.

The instructor was going away.

What your heart felt at the moment, you didn't understand.

''(Y/n) ! Do you still want to eat with us ?''

''Oh, right. Sure, Armin !''

And why it was making you feel so small, you didn't understand either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty proud of this chapter aa  
> sometimes when I'm writing I have poetry surges and I need to fit some of it in between scenes or dialogues, and I think i managed well!  
> The story is pretty chill for now, but I want to make sure that our Reader feels three dimensionnal before shit goes down HEHE  
> Probably two or three chapters like that left!! But even if it's slow rn, I hope you guys are liking the story so far!  
> Don't hesitate to comment btw, that's the best part about posting your stuff online!


	3. Theory and Practice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TADAM! AFTER A MONTH (or more????) AN UPDATE!  
> Finally things are getting interesting!  
> I'm so excited to work on the next chapter but I'll let you read now...  
> (and i'll hop into bed because once again i update at an ungodly hour)

As weeks passed, you tried to get closer to everyone you 'knew'.

It seemed easy in your head, but it was actually way harder to befriend someone than you thought it would be.

It's been a while since you've been put in that kind of situation.  
Armin was your friend now, and after the gear exercise, you and the Shiganshina trio grew closer. To be fair, you were getting along well with everyone. You spent a lot of time with Connie and Sasha too. Other than Armin, they were the easiest to hang out with, even when all of you were strangers to one another.

It was almost like the moment you sat down next to Connie at breakfast was scripted.

 _Heh._  
Eventually, as time passed, you grew lonely. No matter how much fun you had or how many new things you experienced, the weight of the secret you held was growing and growing and growing on you. You knew you couldn't tell them, that would fuck everything up and you wouldn't have any space to 'work with'. The only ones you could probably try to convince were Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie...

This seemed like the biggest mistake you could do, but, after thinking about it...

_They don't know what I know._

For a while, you seriously thought about telling them. The risks were high though, you didn't have the strenght to fight them if things went south.

If they knew about you, they could feel cornered and deviate their plans to make you spill out what you know.

You could trick them.

Or not.

But what would you do then ?

Should you really try to tell them? Convince them about your origin? Would they actually believe it in the first place? Would that cause problem in the time and space of this universe?

Of none of these questions you had the answers.

Should you even meddle with the events? Should you decide to let everything happen just like its supposed to happen?

Maybe this was the right solution, but then what would you be doing here? Replaying your favourite characters', -now comrades- death? Knowing about the far away land that is Marley, the truth about the titans, and carry everything aimlessly.  
No.  
This would be a waste.

  
You looked over at Marco, sitting to the table across you. You closed your eyes and sighed. This would be your first objective. He had to stay alive. You would have time to think this over, but you couldn't risk losing your friends during the battle of Trost, and you also couldn't stop the battle of Trost.

Eren needed to acknowledge his powers.  
All this thinking made you feel tired, and you put your head on your table, sighing once more, gazing at Marco swiftly taking notes of today's lesson.  
The instructor was going over the current knowledge humanity has of the titans, specifying details here and there. You knew it already. You felt your eyes slowly close.  
After a few minutes, a hand landing on your shoulder caught your attention and your eyes snapped open.  
You pushed yourself up and peeked behind you, to find Bertholdt smiling softly, pointing his finger to the black board that you should have been looking at. You smile and nod quickly before turning back to sit correctly on your part of the bench.

Squinting at the blackboard, you couldn't make anything out of the blurry mess the teacher had written. Not that he had a bad handwriting, but...

...

''Hey, Armin.''

''Oh, hi (Y/n) ! You're not sleepy ?''

''No, I was thinking about stuff... Do you have a minute ?''

He was still reading into the mess hall, as usual. A candle lit next to his book, the glow of the bright flame was dancing above the ocean illustrations sprawled out across the page.

''I've been meaning to ask you something for a while, it's a bit weird though.''

''Go ahead.'' He looked as if he was concentrating really hard on what you were about to say.

''Armin, could you teach me how to read ?''

''Huh ?!'' He looked as if a titan appeared right behind you.

''Yeah ! Aha... I can't read, nor write, for that matter.''

''You never learnt ?''

''Uh, no actually. I come from a farm in a remote place so I didn't get to learn before the wall fell...'' You scratched your head, hiding your shame with meaningless mimics.

You needed to learn, it would look suspicious to everyone if you couldn't take notes in... whatever their language is...

Armin would be aware, but you couldn't avoid everything anyways.

The boy apologized, thinking he had been rude.

''Oh no don't worry Armin ! But, please don't tell the others !''

''Oh, I won't ! I'd be glad to help you ! Wait, you know what...''

He turned around and took a small notebook out of his pocket.

''Here. You can have it.''

With its leather in almost pristine condition, the little journal still had cuts and dents here and there, proof of a short but active life.

''Isn't that where you note your theories about the world... or something ?''

''Oh, there's only a few pages filled ! But you can have it to practice if you want !''

''Armin, I can't do that... It's yours, I can't just take like that.''

''Don't worry about that ! I have a spare one !''

''A spare one ?''

''Yes !''

''Why don't you... Just give me the spare one instead, then.. ?''

You looked at each others for a moment then laughed. _He really didn't think about that !_

''Oh... Oh ! Yeah ! Sorry ! I'll give it to you tomorrow then !''

''Don't apologize, Armin.'' You said with a light chuckle.

''It's already very nice of you to teach me, and THEN you decide to gift me something ? That's the best outcome I could have imagined... Thank you... I'll get going now.

You gave him a small smile and made your way back to the dormitories, filled with joy after the pleasant discussion you just had.

Armin was still sitting on the bench, gaze lingering on the small notebook still in his hand.

_'Outcome'... hm.._

…

You flipped the pages of your newly acquired notebook. The pages were filled with doodles and english notes of your thoughts. Here and there, a few words were written in...Eldian ?

Which was surprisingly easier to learn that it seemed. Maybe because you practiced everyday.

Armin had been kind enough to offer you daily classes :

''you're gonna learn so much better'' as he put it.

Everyday after dinner you were now staying with him in the mess hall, always finding an excuse to stay after everyone left.

Whenever you came back, you were sure that Sasha and Mina were up to ask you how it went, as they _obviously_ had another thing in mind when mentioning your daily meet-ups.

You chuckled to yourself.  
Still not concentrating on the lesson, your mind wandered.

You thought of your friends, your family... But also of your newly found friends. If you'd had to imagine what your life with them would have been like, nothing of the sort would have crossed your mind. Nothing as... carefree, as that. The last ending of season three suddenly popped in your mind. This really was the nicest part of their whole lives...

You sighed.

As for you... Sure, your life hadn't been a dream, like everyone, it had bumps and hadn't been a smooth road, but it was a good life.

Boring, almost.

Maybe you wanted more.

The thrill of it ? Wanting to face something bigger than yourself ?

You glanced at the badly drawn titan on the blackboard and rested your head back on your crossed arms despite Bertholdt's attempt at making you pay attention earlier.

...Should you actually tell the shifters that you know everything?

They'd either be wary of you, or try to silence you directly. Your eyes drift off to Marco and you suddenly gulp. This was a bad idea. This was CLEARLY a bad idea.

_AHHHHH (Y/N) ! GET OVER YOURSELF !!_

The worse thing you could do right now would be this. So why did you feel ready to do this EXACT thing.  
They wanted the axe and were looking to bring back the founding titan.

They couldn't torture you, they couldn't hurt you directly without arousing suspicion.

And they didn't know what _you_ know.

They already knew that they're a threat, that they're enemies...

_The only thing I'm risking here is my safety._

But then again, you're in the same bunkbed as Mikasa.

  
_I can't just keep this to myself forever!_

You needed to find a way to let them know while being subtle... That had never been your strong point, sadly. You groaned, and right this instant the instructor dismissed the class.

Quickly gathering your small notebook and mostly blank notes, you leaped from the bench after your classmates. You took a quick look on the other side of the tables, where Marco was preparing to leave.

You thought. Again.

You really had been thinking a lot since you came here.

But now you knew. You were gonna tell them.

There's some contentment in the way you try to turn down the voices in your head that keep telling you to keep your mouth shut.

Ignoring them, you headed down the stairs to get your notes and journal back in your room.

...

  
The sun was still high in the sky when you were getting through your hand-to-hand combat session. It had been a while since you've had any of these and it made you remember your first session.

  
When you got in this world and it dawned on you that you were gonna have to fight hand-to-hand, to say that you were not looking forward to it would have been an understatement. The temptation to follow Annie and ditch the class was extremely appealing, but the perspective of getting caught by the instructor was scarier than getting a whooping by Mikasa.

So ass whooping it was!

The first fight you had to go through on the first day was against Hannah, and she seemed as enthusiastic as you to be here. You chatted a bit before beginning, she instantly struck you as extremely friendly, and determined to meet new people, or so it seemed!

Hannah was one of those background characters who you don't really pay attention to, but having her right by your side almost moved you. It was like getting to know someone you've always knew existed, but never took the time to approach. She felt real, she was real! It filled you with so much joy!  
You and the freckled girl shared a few half-hearted punches here and there and the fight was over quickly. Quarrelling in the dirt for too long didn't seem like a pleasant activity to you both on that

day. What surprised you though was Hannah's selflessness when she declared you victorious to the instructor writing down the different results.

You tried to get her to take it back but she absolutely refused.

'You look like a determined person, and, I have no intention to put you down, so I might as well help you!' She said with a smile.

You remember you almost teared up right in front of her, and her kind words motivated you for the rest of the week after that!

  
But here you were, getting paired with Reiner Braun.

You knew right away that this fight would be different. Well, Reiner was a good guy, and you knew he wouldn't harm you on purpose, but, let's be real here, the result of the fight was already decided the moment you set foot in front of him. But because he had a bigger build than you, your pride took the wheel, and you would make it a personal matter to win this fight. At this point, you never really talked with him, he was there, and you were training with him sometimes, but that was it. It was the first direct interaction you had with him, and you had the luck to gauge his combat skill in case things went to shit tonight.

_Oh well, he could just probably knock me out anyways..._

  
"You don't look like you're used to fighting. Don't worry, I won't go hard on you."  
...Damn, did you look like that much of a weakling? Next to him, well, obviously. But you weren't that much of a twig, right? Your pride was piqued once again.

  
"What do you mean go hard on me? Please don't pity me, that just makes me look bad..." You said, challenging him with a smirk. He seemed surprised at your sudden change of expression.  
"Well, alright... Come at me then!"

  
…

  
Your ego wasn't the only bruised thing when you landed face first in the dirt. Not only had the fight been pretty inexistant on your side, but it also had been painful. You could hear Connie laugh his ass off behind you. You groaned and slowly got yourself up, ignoring the hand that Reiner was holding out for you. You faced him, wiping the dust from your hands on your pants, before suddenly getting into a fighting pose.  
"Again."

  
…

  
After about three more fights, he seemed to acknowledge your determination, and he smirked -significantly happy to see you try again and not abandon after the first defeat- before trying to throw you on the ground like during the last brawls.  
"It's useless! How long are you gonna continue like that?" He wasn't mocking you, you knew that for sure. But his tone, even if amused, mirrored some exhaustion too.

He attacked, and this time you dodged his hand, avoiding him getting a grip on your shoulder. He seemed taken aback, and you used this moment of uncertainty to dive on his stomach, pushing him with all the strength you could gather to put him on the ground.

Or, that was the initial plan, at least.

You did push him, but he wasn't moving an inch, and you running against the ground was a pitiful sight to the others around you.  
Connie wasn't missing a thing from where he was standing, and his laugh was beginning to get other people to notice your struggling.

Reiner, not moving an inch, probably thought that this was the right moment for a tutorial.  
"You're not doing it right. The key is to make your opponent lose its balance... Just like that."  
He groaned and, _'just like that'_ , you were on the ground again, but Reiner probably misjudged his strength as you were sent rolling a good meter away from him.

Ouch, your nose.

He immediately realized and apologized, while you were trying to stand again.

You started laughing.  
"What are you laughing at?" He said, holding out his hand again.  
"Oh nothing. It's just that... It's probably the first time I've gotten my ass beaten like that!" You chuckled, happily taking his hand. He pulled you up.

  
"Oh, by the way, the name's Reiner."  
"Oh, I know."

He chuckled, because, really, you're an odd one.

You once again brushed the dust off of your pants and, with your newly found friend, made your way back to the meetup area, where everyone was gathered after the whistle blowed by the instructor signaled the end of the session.

You smiled to yourself.

_For how long would he be your friend?_

Looking at the sun slowly engaging its fall into the ground, you savoured these last few carefree hours, as tonight's dinner was sure to be at once the promise of the unexpected and the fear of the consequences...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 😳  
> What do you think she's gonna do?  
> I'm so excited for what's to come and i'm the goddamn author lmaoooo catch me comment to ask when the next update is coming out lmaooo  
> If you have any theories PLEAAAAASE do share them !!!  
> im so intrigued by what my readers think or feel when reading my stuff 😩  
> see you soon for the showdown! the next chapter is probably gonna be dialogue heavy (now i'm scared i can't do that LMAO) so prepare yourself for some sweeet sweet interactions!  
> On this note i'll disappear! BYEEEE


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